UPDATED:
February 12, 2020
New
Mountain Music
Available
on Line
by
Jamie Jobb
“There’s
no role for critics on a front porch.”
– Michael
Johnathon, song farmer
Haunted
Windchimes is one of many modern mountain bands pushing boundaries of
bluegrass in the 21st Century. Someone curious can really get lost
looking into these groups on line, but somehow they’ll begin to
find you once you start looking for them. More than a few local
musicians sense a renaissance among young players inspired by other
young artists on You Tube to bend-and-blend musical styles. Here’s
a listing of stringed quintets mostly, which base and bounce their sound off a bluegrass foundation:
Shook
Twins – seriously talented singer/songwriter sisters originally
from Idaho, now based in Portland.
Follow
their live shows:
I’m
With Her – three songwriters harmonize around angelic bluegrass
roots
Tiny
Desk Concert:
The
Wailin’ Jennys –
Canadian-based singer songwriters steeped in powerhouse melodies.
Check
out their a cappella chops here:
The Be Good Tanyas – bluesy trio of folky frontwomen based out of Vancouver.
Lindsay
Lou and The Flatbellys
– neck-and-neck with Windchimes as best shoeless string band:
One
of several good videos
Infamous
Stringdusters - hybrid improv bluegrass band and country string
quintet.
Subscribe
to them on You Tube:
Steep
Canyon Rangers – Steve Martin’s go-to string band.
Subscribe
to them on You Tube:
Railsplitters
– unconventional classical-attuned bluegrass from Boulder:
Woodruff
Laputka’s wonderful You Tube video:
From
their own You Tube channel:
Ragged
Union – hard-core bluegrass with modern twisted lyrics based in
Golden Colorado:
Trout
Steak Revival - Colorado Americana bluegrass, and Big Mountain
Music
Mr.
Sun - jazz-inspired bluegrass
led by legendary fiddler Darol Anger.
Punch
Brothers - stratospherically talented and tightly composed string
quintet
Nickel
Creek - progressive high-octane bluegrass from Vista California
Hawktail
– Virtuoso compositional folky jazzgrass, spiced with nimble
melodic bass.
Iron
& Wine – Sam Beam’s cinematically stylistic songs
Pitchfork
Live Session:
Rising
Appalachia – pair of
well-traveled sisters find justice in their southern roots-and-string
Appalachian
Road Show – throwback gospel-tinged fingerpickin’ bluegrass
from them hills and hollers.
The
Deadly Gentlemen – tuneful country gents with signature
traditional twang
Their
YouTube channel showcases their diversity:
Crooked
Still – “defiantly non-traditional bluegrass” quintet …
with cello!
Live
set at 2011 Gray Fox Bluegrass Festival:
Elephant
Revival - gypsy roots tunes from Nederland Colorado
Alhambra
Valley Band - urban bluegrass from rural Contra Costa County
shoreline in California. Celebrated local pickers since 1986.
Steep
Ravine - from the mountains of Marin through Santa Cruz. Catch
them all over the Bay Area.
Front
Country - Bay Area band sounds like it’s from Colorado.
Winners at RockyGrass/Telluride festivals.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvrpynnrICHZrvbwKlk8DIw
Mandolin
Orange – traditional bluegrass bottled in a dynamic duo
“That
Cadillac came, gave our girl a ride”
Milk
Carton Kids – dynamic virtuoso guitar duo and low-key comedians
masquerading as Paul & Art
Full
concert at Lincoln Theatre
Kruger
Brothers – traditional bluegrass without fiddle, bass or
mandolin
The
Devil Makes Three – cross-country trio from Vermont, California
and Texas.
Show
Ponies - independent folkers inspired by legend of Huck Finn and
longin’ for new quintet territory.
Tumbleweed
Wanderers - four-piece busker band staging soulful rock.
Family
Crest - seven-piece big band with 400 cohorts for complex pop
tunes rearranged.
Flatt
Lonesome - newgrass band featuring three siblings from
Murfreesboro Tennessee. Flatt beauty to the ears: the other mountain
music.
Jeff
Brown and Still Lonesome - bandleader commands stellar lineup of
Appalachian string wizards.
The
Idle Time Band - solid traditional bluegrass group with
authentic harmonies and rolling strings.
Hackensaw
Boys - former buskers, now funky jugless Virginia goofball jug
band.
The
Brothers Comatose – widely touring gospel country rollocking
string quintet
You
Tube channel (“people from the city do not do this”):
Whiskey
Shivers – diversely talented Texas tunesmiths and jug-punk
party band.
Poor
Man’s Whiskey
– lively
Northern California bluegrass rockers, with percussion.
PMW
You
Tube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSYURTzUizVwvkAb183wP5Q
Bad
Ridge - forward-looking bluegrass from deep Virginia hollers
Mipso
- Carolina
string band with progressive/rural hybrid vigor
Sam
Bush Band – Kentucky-centric
string masters led by
mandolin licks of Sam himself.
Avett
Brothers - rocky North Carolina roots-and-string band fronted by
a pair of brilliant songwriting brothers
Blind
Pilot - soulful six-piece American roots band with Latin jazz
folk rock show tune sensibilities played on an odd assemblage of
string, percussion, keyboard, and horn parts. Fine harmonies and deep
lyrics too.
Henhouse
Prowlers – Dexterous
Chicago-based world-roaming bluegrass ambassadors
Crooked
Still - “A defiantly
non-traditional bluegrass quintet”
YouTube
channel:
The
Slick Skillet Serenaders –
versatile NOLA-based vaudeville busker/kazoo band
Hayde
Bluegrass Orchestra –
tight-knit big-band high-octet bluegrass from Norway!
Their
YouTube:
The
SteelDrivers - Nashville-based powerhouse bluesy bluegrass
quintet with a distinct jazz country tinge.
The
Wood Brothers – pair of country/folk genius brothers, with
backup
Their
YouTube:
The
Rayo Brothers – multi-talented Deep South string quartet
steeped in bluesy roots.
The
Waterboys – deep rooted highland Raggle-Taggle Celtic acoustic
folk rockers.
Fisherman’s
Blues/Room to Roam:
The
Cleverlys - perhaps the most cleverest bluegrass stand-up
cover-band we know. Seriously funny and fantastic pickers:
Soggy
Bottom Boys – fictitious bluegrass band from O Brother, Where
Art Thou?
SEE
NEW MUSIC ON LINE … with these great series:
Gondola
Sessions, terrific series recorded to take advantage of studio
acoustics inside a ski-lift cabin:
KEXP.org:
https://www.youtube.com/user/kexpradio
Bluegrass
Roots TV: https://www.youtube.com/user/bluegrassrootstv
NPR
Tiny Desk
Concerts: https://www.youtube.com/user/nprmusic
Audio
Tree: https://audiotree.tv/
NOTE:
This
list has been updated and was originally published as a sidebar to
this 2015 entry:
More
about Haunted Windchimes:
Haunted
Windchimes posted this backwoods video for “Pine Six String”:
[local
version originally published in The Martinez Tribune - 4 September
2015]
